This is something I've been wondering for years now, possibly decades:Is there any specific album differences between the Yellow-background album and the red-background album (much like the original Off The Deep End album had the 14-minute-long "YDLMA/Bite Me" and the further non-Scotti-Bros pressings didn't)?

SmadaNave wrote:This is something I've been wondering for years now, possibly decades:Is there any specific album differences between the Yellow-background album and the red-background album (much like the original Off The Deep End album had the 14-minute-long "YDLMA/Bite Me" and the further non-Scotti-Bros pressings didn't)?

After thoroughly looking at the Alapalooza Wikipedia, I got my answer:"Globally, some versions included a notice distinguishing it from the official Jurassic Park film soundtrack, as the two cover designs were similar. The Japanese edition contained a bonus track of Yankovic singing "Jurassic Park" in Japanese."

I don't recall the reason for the difference, but both covers were issued by Scotti Bros., first through BMG distribution, then again through WEA. Cassettes were yellow background for both BMG and WEA. And yes, those are all in my archive.

The non-US countries apparently chose one color or the other as follows:

The reason for the switch in color from red to yellow is that people were genuinely buying Alapalooza thinking it was the popular Jurassic Park soundtrack. Too many complaints, so they changed it. The sticker was meant to serious, though I think a tiny bit also poking fun at the people who purchased the wrong album. I don't know why WEA decided to go back to red when they took over distribution, but my guess is they just used the original artwork not knowing about the issue or alternate artwork (or possibly not caring since enough time had passed that people weren't buying the JP soundtrack in large numbers anymore) and switching to yellow for later printings after they found out or ran out of red covers.